HOLLYWOOD—It is a history making moment, and as a fan of daytime TV I am ecstatic that we are getting a new soap opera, one that focuses on a predominantly black cast and it’s all thanks to CBS. Yes, there was a time when I thought the soap opera genre was dead and on the verge of actual extinction. There was a time where you had at least 10 soaps airing at once.
Yeah, I’ll list them for you: “Guiding Light,” “The Young and the Restless,” “The Bold and the Beautiful,” “As the World Turns,” “All My Children,” “Port Charles,” “One Life to Live,” “General Hospital,” “Days of Our Lives,” “Another World,” “Passions” and I think where were a few others as well. Deciding which soap to watch was a chore because it would be competing with another soap airing at the exact same time. Would you watch “AMC” or “Y&R,” “OLTL” or “ATWT,” or could it be “DOOL” or “B&B.” Yes, choices had to be made, and it was so bad at a point, you had a cable network Soap Net that was dedicated to all the soap operas so if you missed one of your favs during the day, you would be able to catch it at night.
Well in the mid to late 00s, a sledgehammer hit the genre, and they vanished out of thin air leaving us with just the four we currently have: “GH,” “Y&R,” “B&B” and “DOOL.” You literally can watch all the soaps without having to pick and choose because there was no overlap until now. “Beyond the Gates” premiered on CBS on Monday, February 24 at 2 p.m. EST in the exact same time slot as “GH” on ABC. Yeah, now you have to choose, which is fun and it means a competitiveness in storytelling.
Let’s give the new soap the acronym “BTG” which is set in Fairmont Crest, a suburbia of Maryland, and is the brainchild of soap opera veteran Michele Val Jean who has worked on “Generations,” “Port Charles,” “Santa Barbara,” “General Hospital” and “The Bold and the Beautiful,” to name a few; she knows what she is doing. At the helm of this new soap is the Dupree family led by “ATWT” alum Tamara Tunie as Anita Dupre and her husband Vernon Dupree (Clifton Davis).
Tunie isn’t the only soap veteran here, because we have Karla Mosley and Daphene Duplaix portraying her daughters, Danielle ‘Dani’ Dupree and Nicole Dupree Richardson. For those who don’t know Mosley made a name for herself on “Guiding Light” and “The Bold and the Beautiful,” while Duplaix is known for her work on “Passions” and “OLTL.”
The trailer gives you everything you want in a soap opera, family bonding moments, a secret affair, wandering eyes, attempted murder, blackmail, secrets, the scorned woman, a slap (actually a punch) and so much more. I was so giddy at the prospect of watching a soap opera from episode one because all of the greats predated me, so I became invested after they were already established, but not with “Beyond the Gates,” cause I’m witnessing something amazing right in front of my eyes.
People might hate me, but this premiere episode was great. It really put a spotlight on the Dupree Family Tree. We get a pretty good slice of all the members of the Dupree family, however, it is no secret that Karla Mosley is a standout. I loved her and I mean love her character, Dani. She is a firecracker, speaks her mind, and holds no bars. She is a character that as an audience member you immediately connect with. The dialogue is great, her acting is perfection, and you can tell she has been in the soap arena before.
That moment where she gives Hayley (Marquita Goings) a taste of how she feels with a punch to the face, followed by mean mugs from the rest of the Dupree family; absolute genius. You already know chaos is brewing between Nurse Ashley (Jen Jacobs) and Andre Richardson (Sean Freeman), who is the nephew of Nicole’s husband, Ted (Maurice Johnson), a successful surgeon. There is one problem: Ashley is dating Derek (Ben Gavin), a firefighter fully devoted to her, and you can absolutely see Andre is smitten by Ashley, who happens to be Naomi’s other bestie. Ted has a secret apparently too because we got introduced to pals of Ashley, Leslie (Trisha Mann-Grant) and Ava (Ambyr Michelle). Leslie gave a intense look when Ted entered the hospital, so she’s connected to him in some way people. Not to mention Leslie and her daughter are plotting something as payback against the turmoil she suffered all those years ago, what exactly we don’t know.
Yes, I’m talking about some of the side characters because I believe they are so important. I love Vanessa McBride (Lauren Buglioli), Fairmont Crest’s top realtor, who happens to also be besties with Dani and seems to stay on top of the gossip in the community. Dani’s daughters, Chelsea (RhonniRose Mantilla) and Naomi (Arielle Prepetit) have given dear old dad, Bill (Timon Kyle Durrett), the cold shoulder. Why wouldn’t they? He broke up the happy family by cheating on Dani, with Naomi’s former bestie, Hayley. Naomi is married to a detective, and we get steamy sex scenes for daytime TV within the first 10-15 minutes of the first episode.
Bill is an interesting character because he has a dark side that was not as evident in episode one of the series, but it started to surface by episode two and he holds some secrets, big ones connected to the Dupree family and Nicole’s son Martin (Brandon Claybon). He is talking in his sleep, which is worrying his stay-at-home hubby Bradley ‘Smitty’ Smith (Mike Manning). Oh, there is definite trouble in this marriage. Bill’s veiled threat to Vernon said it all and he informed Anita who noted they had to protect Martin at all costs. Oh, what has Martin done and what does Bill know people? “Beyond the Gates” is doing a fantastic job in just a few episodes of establishing characters and unleashing little tidbits about secrets being held.
I’m hooked after a few episodes, and it’s everything you expect from a soap opera, dare I say “General Hospital” better be scared and thinking about moving back to that 3 p.m. slot that it used to occupy for decades because it has some competition, and if I’m being forced to choose “GH” is not going to like it. “Beyond the Gates” airs at 2 p.m. on CBS, and it is so exciting to have another option for daytime TV.
